[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
now and again interrupted by the other. By the sound they must have been talking
earnestly, and almost fiercely; but no distinct word came to my hearing.
At last the speakers seemed to have paused and perhaps to have sat down, for
not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds themselves began to
grow more quiet and to settle again to their places in the swamp.
And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business, that since I had been
so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the least I could do was to
overhear them at their councils, and that my plain and obvious duty was to draw
as close as I could manage, under the favourable ambush of the crouching trees.
I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only by the sound of
their voices but by the behaviour of the few birds that still hung in alarm above
the heads of the intruders.
Crawling on all fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them, till at last,
raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I could see clear down into a
little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set about with trees, where Long
John Silver and another of the crew stood face to face in conversation.
The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat beside him on the
ground, and his great, smooth, blond face, all shining with heat, was lifted to the
other man's in a kind of appeal.
"Mate," he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold dust of you gold dust, and
you may lay to that! If I hadn't took to you like pitch, do you think I'd have been
here a-warning of you? All's up you can't make nor mend; it's to save your neck
that I'm a-speaking, and if one of the wild uns knew it, where'd I be, Tom now,
tell me, where'd I be?"
"Silver," said the other man and I observed he was not only red in the face, but
spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook too, like a taut rope "Silver," says
he, "you're old, and you're honest, or has the name for it; and you've money too,
which lots of poor sailors hasn't; and you're brave, or I'm mistook. And will you
tell me you'll let yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you!
As sure as God sees me, I'd sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty "
And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I had found one of the
honest hands well, here, at that same moment, came news of another. Far away
out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the cry of anger, then
another on the back of it; and then one horrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of
the Spy-glass re-echoed it a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose
again, darkening heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell
was still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and only the
rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the
languor of the afternoon.
Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur, but Silver had not
winked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his
companion like a snake about to spring.
"John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand.
"Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, with the
speed and security of a trained gymnast.
"Hands off, if you like, John Silver," said the other. "It's a black conscience that
can make you feared of me. But in heaven's name, tell me, what was that?"
"That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye a mere pin-
point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass. "That? Oh, I reckon that'll
be Alan."
And at this point Tom flashed out like a hero.
"Alan!" he cried. "Then rest his soul for a true seaman! And as for you, John
Silver, long you've been a mate of mine, but you're mate of mine no more. If I die
like a dog, I'll die in my dooty. You've killed Alan, have you? Kill me too, if you
can. But I defies you."
And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and set off
walking for the beach. But he was not destined to go far. With a cry John seized
the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth
missile hurtling through the air. It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with
stunning violence, right between the shoulders in the middle of his back. His
hands flew up, he gave a sort of gasp, and fell.
Whether he were injured much or little, none could ever tell. Like enough, to
judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But he had no time given
him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey even without leg or crutch, was on the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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now and again interrupted by the other. By the sound they must have been talking
earnestly, and almost fiercely; but no distinct word came to my hearing.
At last the speakers seemed to have paused and perhaps to have sat down, for
not only did they cease to draw any nearer, but the birds themselves began to
grow more quiet and to settle again to their places in the swamp.
And now I began to feel that I was neglecting my business, that since I had been
so foolhardy as to come ashore with these desperadoes, the least I could do was to
overhear them at their councils, and that my plain and obvious duty was to draw
as close as I could manage, under the favourable ambush of the crouching trees.
I could tell the direction of the speakers pretty exactly, not only by the sound of
their voices but by the behaviour of the few birds that still hung in alarm above
the heads of the intruders.
Crawling on all fours, I made steadily but slowly towards them, till at last,
raising my head to an aperture among the leaves, I could see clear down into a
little green dell beside the marsh, and closely set about with trees, where Long
John Silver and another of the crew stood face to face in conversation.
The sun beat full upon them. Silver had thrown his hat beside him on the
ground, and his great, smooth, blond face, all shining with heat, was lifted to the
other man's in a kind of appeal.
"Mate," he was saying, "it's because I thinks gold dust of you gold dust, and
you may lay to that! If I hadn't took to you like pitch, do you think I'd have been
here a-warning of you? All's up you can't make nor mend; it's to save your neck
that I'm a-speaking, and if one of the wild uns knew it, where'd I be, Tom now,
tell me, where'd I be?"
"Silver," said the other man and I observed he was not only red in the face, but
spoke as hoarse as a crow, and his voice shook too, like a taut rope "Silver," says
he, "you're old, and you're honest, or has the name for it; and you've money too,
which lots of poor sailors hasn't; and you're brave, or I'm mistook. And will you
tell me you'll let yourself be led away with that kind of a mess of swabs? Not you!
As sure as God sees me, I'd sooner lose my hand. If I turn agin my dooty "
And then all of a sudden he was interrupted by a noise. I had found one of the
honest hands well, here, at that same moment, came news of another. Far away
out in the marsh there arose, all of a sudden, a sound like the cry of anger, then
another on the back of it; and then one horrid, long-drawn scream. The rocks of
the Spy-glass re-echoed it a score of times; the whole troop of marsh-birds rose
again, darkening heaven, with a simultaneous whirr; and long after that death yell
was still ringing in my brain, silence had re-established its empire, and only the
rustle of the redescending birds and the boom of the distant surges disturbed the
languor of the afternoon.
Tom had leaped at the sound, like a horse at the spur, but Silver had not
winked an eye. He stood where he was, resting lightly on his crutch, watching his
companion like a snake about to spring.
"John!" said the sailor, stretching out his hand.
"Hands off!" cried Silver, leaping back a yard, as it seemed to me, with the
speed and security of a trained gymnast.
"Hands off, if you like, John Silver," said the other. "It's a black conscience that
can make you feared of me. But in heaven's name, tell me, what was that?"
"That?" returned Silver, smiling away, but warier than ever, his eye a mere pin-
point in his big face, but gleaming like a crumb of glass. "That? Oh, I reckon that'll
be Alan."
And at this point Tom flashed out like a hero.
"Alan!" he cried. "Then rest his soul for a true seaman! And as for you, John
Silver, long you've been a mate of mine, but you're mate of mine no more. If I die
like a dog, I'll die in my dooty. You've killed Alan, have you? Kill me too, if you
can. But I defies you."
And with that, this brave fellow turned his back directly on the cook and set off
walking for the beach. But he was not destined to go far. With a cry John seized
the branch of a tree, whipped the crutch out of his armpit, and sent that uncouth
missile hurtling through the air. It struck poor Tom, point foremost, and with
stunning violence, right between the shoulders in the middle of his back. His
hands flew up, he gave a sort of gasp, and fell.
Whether he were injured much or little, none could ever tell. Like enough, to
judge from the sound, his back was broken on the spot. But he had no time given
him to recover. Silver, agile as a monkey even without leg or crutch, was on the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]